Kersey enrolled there (Longwood University) as a 6’3”, 175-pound 18-year-old and left a 6’7”, 225-pound grown man. His battles with Charles Oakley of Division II powerhouse, Virginia Union, are still a part of Farmville lore. Oftentimes the two had to be separated during heated exchanges. Whenever Longwood played a home game during Kersey’s tenure, the entire town literally shut down. My friends and I would recap the exploits of Kersey and other Longwood greats like Joe Remar and Ron Orr. We would recant how if Oakley had tried to step to Kersey, we would have rushed the court and jumped him … yeah right.

I love book lists. They are great ways to discover books you would not have heard about otherwise. I particularly enjoyed 11 Twenty-First Century Books Our Kids Will Be Taught In Schools from mic.com. It included the usual suspects - books from Zadie Smith, Junot Diaz, George Saunders, and Khaled Hosseini, Yann Martel, and Alice Munro. It was a great, "safe" list, which probably explains why Shock Exchange: How Inner-City Kids From Brooklyn Predicted The Great Recession And The Pain Ahead did not make the cut. ShockExchange examines the stock market and U.S. economy through the eyes of the kids of the New York Shock Exchange (newyorkshockexchange.com), a financial literacy program Ralph Baker started in 2006 to share my passion for basketball and investing with my 11 year old son and other boys his age.

Library Journal called the book "An innovative look into the Great Recession" and "an intriguing work." Ken Townsend, Elliott Professor of Economics at Hampden-Sydney College exclaimed, "Great Book!"

Qualcomm's (NASDAQ:QCOM) recent settlement of its anti-monopoly investigation by China's National Development and Reform Commission ("NDRC") has created other headaches for the company. Qualcomm paid a fine of $975 million and agreed to charge royalty rates of 5% and 3.5% for 3G and 4G devices, respectively. According to the Financial Times, the royalty base in which the licenses are charged declined from 100% of the net sale price to 65%. In effect, Qualcomm's royalty fees received a 35% haircut. The NDRC agreement opens up a Pandora's box whereby other Qualcomm customers may demand similar royalty rates. Read more:

In late November Molycorp (NYSE:MCP) broke the buck after announcing a $38 million debt-for-equity swap with certain bondholders. The stock has closed below $1 per share ever since. On January 30th I posed the question,"Will Molycorp Be Delisted?":

I believe an NYSE delisting is imminent for MCP. Such an event would cause investors to lose interest in MCP and it would be disastrous for the stock. Investors should avoid MCP.

Molycorp had just been given a delisting notice by the NYSE after MCP traded below $1 per share for 30 consecutive days. The company had been losing money and burning cash for several consecutive quarters; rumors from DA Davidson that bottlenecks at Molycorp's Mountain Pass facility were hurting rare earth production seemed to make matters worse. On February 2nd Molycorp seemed to assuage investors with an innocuous press release stating Q4 rare earth production was up Y/Y and nearly double the amount recorded in Q3 2014. Read more:

Netflix (NASDAQ:NFLX) is set to report quarterly earnings after-hours today. Analysts are expecting revenue of $1.48 billion and earnings per share ("EPS") of $0.45. Expectations imply revenue growth of 5% sequentially. The company's Q3 2014 revenue of $1.41 billion was in line with expectations; however, Netflix only added about 3.0 million subscribers during the quarter which was less than the 3.7 million the market was expecting.

The company had an 8% contribution margin in Q3 2014 versus 5% in the year earlier period.

Netflix's Q3 2014 cost break down as a percentage of revenue was as follows: cost of sales (68%), marketing (10%), technology and development (8%), and general and administrative (6%),

However, Q3 contribution margin was lower than the 10% achieved in Q2 2014, which disappointed the market. The lower contribution was due to higher marketing and general and administrative expenses related to the build out of its international operations. Read more:

Baker Hughes (NYSE:BHI) delivered stellar earnings Tuesday morning, despite the sharp decline in oil prices in Q4 2014. Revenue was a record $6.64 billion, and earnings per share ("eps") was $1.52. Analysts were expecting revenue of $6.41 billion and eps of $1.07. Revenue was up 13% Y/Y and 6% sequentially. The following chart outlines the company's historical financial results:

Precision Castparts Corporation (NYSE:PCP) is set to announce Q4 2014 earnings after-hours today. Analysts are expecting revenue of $2.48 billion and earnings per share ("eps") of $3.17. Estimates imply [i] revenue growth of 0% Y/Y and -2% sequentially and [ii] eps growth of 12% Y/Y and -3% sequentially. The company operates in three different segments:

I was always curious how the grand jury could totally ignore the eye witness account of Dorian Johnson, the man with Michael Brown during his encounter with officer Darren Wilson. Now we learn that Johnson's testimony to the FBI was omitted by St. Louis Mo. prosecuting attorney Bob McCulloch. A local St. Louis TV station recently got the testimony released and it is nothing short of riveting. At a minimum, Johnson's testimony is consistent with his previous statements and matches statements from other witnesses. Johnson claims Wilson tried to pull Brown into his squad car and a tug of war ensued. Wilson shot Brown at the car and then shot him several more times after Brown fled and gave himself up. Here are excerpts: